Aminul probe crucial, says Clinton

US buyers will get wrong signal if murder of the garment labour activist is not investigated independently. Updates

Dhaka, May 6 (bdnews24.com)—Hillary Clinton warned on Sunday that Bangladesh's failure to probe the murder of a garment labour activist would send a wrong signal to the American buyers.

The US secretary of state made the remarks prior to her departure for Kolkata at the end of a 24-hour trip to Dhaka.

She told students at the International School of Dhaka (ISD) that Brac founder Sir Fazle Hasan Abed and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus were "national treasure" and that Bangladesh should treat them accordingly.

"I think they are your national treasures. Their organisations viewed as the best development organisations in the world," the US secretary of state said.

Clinton also said she had told both Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia during her meeting with them that all the political actors should sit together to try to settle disputes.

She said independent probe into the murder of the labour activist Aminul Islam was crucial for Bangladesh, adding that whenever there were labour problems in the garments industry that 'has to be resolved'.

"You don't want to get a reputation that labour activist is murdered or people are taken advantage or abuse of poor working condition. There needs to be total rule of law and no impunity," Clinton said.

"The recent killing of labour activist Aminul Islm has to be investigated and perpetrators need to be brought to justice. There needs to be a demonstration that rule of law established."

Activist Aminul Islam, president of Ashulia unit of a labour union, went missing on Apr 4, and his body was found two days later in Tangail.

He was buried as an 'unidentified person'. But the following day, his family identified him from the picture published in a newspaper. They contacted police and reburied him.

The US secretary of state also said that she had followed dispute over Grameen Bank from Washington.

"I can only hope nothing is done in any way undermined the success of Grameen Bank. I highly respect Mohammad Yunus. I hope it will continue without being undermined or affected by any government action. That would be unfortunate" she added.

The former managing director of the Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus, is well known as a family-friend of the Clintons.

The Bangladesh Bank removed him from his post on Mar 2 last year saying he was past his retirement age.

Clinton had left for Kolkata after attending the programme titled 'A Conversation with Bangladesh' organised by the ISD. She visited Bangladesh last time as the first lady in 1995.